torn acl, torn mcl, brokn meniscus rehab excercises.

Thumperjones

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Hi, I'm a new member and a dedicated bodybuilder and gym rat overall haha. I train Boxing ,Muay Thai, and MMA and I am generally involved in an active life style. Unfortunately though, I was recently hit by a car from behind, the car was traveling highway speeds. The impact resulted in me receiving a broken rib, broken elbow,dislocated knee, broken meniscus , broken tibia, broken ankle, broken pelvis and torn MCL and torn ACL . I recently have undergone surgery to repair the meniscus, clean up the knee and reattach the MCL. They took a hamstring graph, and I have been doing the knee bend exercises taught to me for the last nine days , plus other minor stuff such as rotations of my ankle as much as possible, lifting of the ground etc. just basic movements....Anyway, I was hoping some of you would be able to help me with some exercises to strengthen and stretch my knee/leg so I can recover optimally and any helpful advice in general. Of course I will be taking doctors advice, but I am starting rehab and would appreciate all the help I can get. This injury is about four weeks old and I am allowed to have featherweight weight bearing on my leg (barely anything, very minimal) but I go for a review in the next few days and I expect them to tell me I can place mre weight slightly. I have my knee bending near ninety degrees already from their exercises, and I am in a Zimmer (removable Velcro leg cast) when I crutch but I am supposed to have it off most of the day anyway unless standing currently.

thank you in advance for any advice , tips or exercises. Even websites would be helpful.
 
TheMovement

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Hows your quad contraction looking? Atrophy compared to before the surgery? Got a compression ice unit at home?

Im guessing you are looking to leave PT but since the graph itself can still be vulnerable for quite some time I wouldn't push things. You could feel better and better by the day but excessive strain early on could be detrimental to the graph. Big thing to remember is that ya didn't just sustain muscular injuries, those are important bones that already take a good beating just from moving around daily. Sure your reminded constantly lol, Lord have mercy if you stub your toe.

IMO at home additions really shouldn't surpass Quad Sets, marble pickups, towel curls, 4-way leg raises in the brace (could be pushing it here), Hamstring and calf Stretches, Ankle pumps, and some prone hangs if your ext. isnt up to par yet. 4-weeks in though it should be. Im guessing you should be doing so of these already and you don't want to overdo it as its really easy to do. RICE is your best friend now and for the next few months im sure.

Im still learning as I go but hopefully some of these things will give ya some ideas to go forward with or course unlike myself the Dr. is the expert
 

Thumperjones

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Thanks for the welcome and the information guys... I'll definetely begin incorporating some of those excercises if the docs are ok with it.

I do have a couple ice packs at the house and do keep it iced regularly... fubny u say about the toe cause i have stubbed t a couple times and it definetely feels good but luckily i have a dumb pain threshold. Quad contraction is good actually,getting used to extending it and.slowly started working on getting flexibility in it again but overall im happy with its progress and impressed with its recovery. Theres a notable change in strength, ability and endurance.Its movements are all fluid and controlled so far. And I definetely have not forgotten the bones ,they frequently let me know whats up haha. I go for a review in two days and I'll hopefully get the staples removed.. as it stands I have around 80 staples in my leg

Yeah there is some atrophy but surprisingly not much...my leg looks like a leg again though haha, although definetely smaller than its been in awhile.

The physio team and doctors have told me they only want the brace/cast on if im crutching somewhere but when I'm doing any physio or sitting , laying etc they want it out so i will try lots out of the zimmer as long as its ok.
Strength seems to be returning quiet fast but there is a definete need to keep my effort low to moderate. Its crazy how much you can begin to notice how much the different tendons and muscles in the body work together. I apologize for any poor punctuation or anything on this post, I am accesing the website from my phone right now.
 
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warrior737

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I have had similar knee surgery. MCL, ACL replaced with cadavers, graphed my torn meniscus and my cartilage removed on the inside of my knee. One simple exercise they would have me do is unweighted leg extensions concentrating on contracting my quads. I would also have to pull myself around in a rolling office chair across the room a few times using that leg only. You could also buy one of the electric hand held muscle stimulators to shock the muscles. Like when you go to PT. They are on "Groupon" all the time for very cheap. I would have to sit on the end of a table and the guy would tie my leg to the table leg. Then he would put the machine on my quad muscles and set the machine to gradually increase stimulation until I couldn't make it anymore. After years of training. My right quad is still smaller than my left on the outside. It took me about 3 years before I could full on run all out. But I also shattered my shin as well.
 

Swolbraham

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Hi, I'm a new member and a dedicated bodybuilder and gym rat overall haha. I train Boxing ,Muay Thai, and MMA and I am generally involved in an active life style. Unfortunately though, I was recently hit by a car from behind, the car was traveling highway speeds. The impact resulted in me receiving a broken rib, broken elbow,dislocated knee, broken meniscus , broken tibia, broken ankle, broken pelvis and torn MCL and torn ACL . I recently have undergone surgery to repair the meniscus, clean up the knee and reattach the MCL. They took a hamstring graph, and I have been doing the knee bend exercises taught to me for the last nine days , plus other minor stuff such as rotations of my ankle as much as possible, lifting of the ground etc. just basic movements....Anyway, I was hoping some of you would be able to help me with some exercises to strengthen and stretch my knee/leg so I can recover optimally and any helpful advice in general. Of course I will be taking doctors advice, but I am starting rehab and would appreciate all the help I can get. This injury is about four weeks old and I am allowed to have featherweight weight bearing on my leg (barely anything, very minimal) but I go for a review in the next few days and I expect them to tell me I can place mre weight slightly. I have my knee bending near ninety degrees already from their exercises, and I am in a Zimmer (removable Velcro leg cast) when I crutch but I am supposed to have it off most of the day anyway unless standing currently.

thank you in advance for any advice , tips or exercises. Even websites would be helpful.
wow sorry to hear that bro. i had a similar situation 11 years ago. i was 12, hit by a car broken my femur in three spots (had it bending behind my back...), fractured my skull, some broken ribs etc then rebroke the femur a year later.

also tore my meniscus and dislocated my knee cap in baseball as well, and had Tommy John surgery so i know where you're coming from.

that being said, definitely listen to your dr and listen to your body and take things slow. don't be a tough guy, because all it takes is one stupid decision and you can reinjure yourself. just be careful lol

as for exercises, a big one i always performed for my leg, and was told to start 5-7 days post OP is to begin flexing the quadricep. you're gonna notice when you start PT and get your leg out of a brace and cast, etc that your leg will be extremely atrophied. Flexing the quadricep can help and i believe it helped big time. I know for my elbow it helped significantly squeezing a tennis ball (and playing Xbox lol) keep the muscles working and slow down some atrophy.

i did flexes for 20-30 seconds about 5-8 times twice a day. just really working to feel the muscle is going to feel "odd" so to speak and you'll be surprised how tiring just flexing will become. i'd honestly limit it to just about that giving the severity of injury. just quad, and maybe calf flexes if there's no pain. and i mean zero pain.

i'd also recommend a lot of icing and elevation. the quicker you can reduce swelling the better.
 

Thumperjones

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Thank You Warrior and Swolbraham... that sucks to hear about your shin, my shins lucky is ok, it just needed spacers and to heal as it broke and broke right through the skin. As it stands now after the last two surgeries I have eighty staples in my leg. Thank you for the excercises I actually had just begun the weightless leg extensions by conincidence around the time you mentioned them a friend had suggested I try seeing if my leg was capable of it.

and Swolbraham that sucks bro, especially the re-break... and yes it does feel weird doing any movements or flexing especially the first couple times. Luckily my elbow seems to be recovering smoothly... thanks for the exercises and it is usually out of the cast...I'm hoping to be told I've gained enough strength that it can continually be out of the cast when I see the surgeon tomorrow.Definetely not exactly eager for the next surgery but eager to get this over and done with
 

Swolbraham

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Embrace brother, god gives his toughest challenges to his strongest soldiers

And personally what I wanna get tatted over my femur just for me "What doesn't kill me (you) makes me stronger"
 
braskibra

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If not contraindicated ask ur doctor if u can get a home nmes unit for muscle strength
 

Thumperjones

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Yeah true, I may ask him for this....however I go for surgery in less than two weeks to get the spacers out of my tibia and potentially reattach my acl, so I figure they will be allowing me to one crutch and use a cane soon...
 

Swolbraham

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Stay strong man. I was wheelchair bound for 2 months. You'll get through it an be stronger than ever. I actually hit at 285 1rm on squat today at 141 lbs
 

Thumperjones

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Awesome, Swolbraham, that's where I'm lucky all my tattoos survived unscathed,,,,I'll probably, get something over my shin soon after I finish my sleeve and chest. and my other fore arm.....and yea, as long as I baby myself I'm sure I will...Just have to be patient. They're impressed with how I'm recovering so that's good t o hear.... and that's an awesome 1rm bro.

Only thing that sucks on my end is they don't anticipate me being able to return to physical work, besides the gym for ten months.. they've actually encouraged me to do what I can in the gym.
 
braskibra

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Yeah true, I may ask him for this....however I go for surgery in less than two weeks to get the spacers out of my tibia and potentially reattach my acl, so I figure they will be allowing me to one crutch and use a cane soon...
Regardless nmes has been shown to improve performance indices in high level athletes whom are healthy , imagine what it could potentially do for u. I would highly recommend at least discussing it with your physician
 

Swolbraham

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haha nice Swolbraham, that's where I'm lucky all my tattoos survived unscathed,,,,I'll probably, get something over my shin soon after I finish my sleeve and chest. and my other fore arm.
That would be an expensive loss lol. Speaking of tattoos I want me second so badly. Just don't have the moolah
 

Thumperjones

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Yeah, this laptop isbeing weird so I just seen both your replies.....that's an awesome 1rm for squat at that weight, congrats, and I'm sure I'll come out stronger waiting just suuuucks.... and I can't wait til no more surgery. .. 10 months til they will allow me to return to physical work but they support me doing what I can in the gym, so that's good...

And Braskiba I will mention it to him at the next surgery and maybe to my pt team and gp. as I am interested in the potential of this, just not too surehow available it will be, but I will ask. Thanks for the info.
 

Thumperjones

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Hey, out of curiosity when this is seen ....what is anyone thoughts on a low-moderate dose of HGH and / or an anabolic once I get the spacers out of my leg on the fifth of November? As far as I know its mylast surgery.... was thinking it might help somewhat as I am training in the gym currently for upper body somewhat...and I will be slowly learning to bear weight, walk all that stuff after ...etc etc
 

Swolbraham

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Hey, out of curiosity when this is seen ....what is anyone thoughts on a low-moderate dose of HGH and / or an anabolic once I get the spacers out of my leg on the fifth of November? As far as I know its mylast surgery.... was thinking it might help somewhat as I am training in the gym currently for upper body somewhat...and I will be slowly learning to bear weight, walk all that stuff after ...etc etc
I wouldn't risk it plus the cost would be an issue.

If you have the coin I'd ask your Dr if you're close like that
 

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